School Safety Is Important To Us

School safety is very important to all of us at the School District of Milton. We work very hard to ensure the safety of our students, staff and visitors to our buildings each and every day. We work in partnership with our local emergency first responders, meeting at least twice a year to discuss what is referred to as our crisis communications management plan. The 95-page document outlines response protocols for a variety of critical incidents that could present themselves, and guides our staff as to best how to keep people as safe as possible, should any of those types of incidents occur.

Throughout the school year, building principals meet with their designated building safety teams to ensure that a Department of Public Instruction required school safety checklist is completed annually. The checklist is designed to ensure we are not only meeting the annual requirements but that we are thinking about and practicing the ways we can best keep our students, staff, and visitors safe while in our schools.

Buildings Locked Throughout The Day

As a general administrative guideline, nearly all of our buildings entrances and exterior doors are locked at all times during the school day. Visitors to our building are asked to "Check In" at the front office and obtain a visitor badge when they are visiting our schools. In addition to this safety measure, all of our school buildings have security cameras strategically placed in them that are designed to serve as a deterrent to crime and as a valued resource when concerning incidents do take place on school grounds.

Our school district also practices responses to potentially dangerous situations throughout the school year, and are defined for parents below:

Fire Drills

This is a drill in which students and staff practice evacuating the building as if there were a fire.

Emergency Lockdowns

An emergency lockdown is a situation that presents an imminent danger to students and staff in our schools and/or on school property. Students are directed to stay in their classrooms until further instructions are given. Response guidelines include, if necessary, emergency evacuation of the building.Classroom instruction does NOT continue during an emergency lockdown, as the primary focus during an emergency lockdown is to keep students and staff as safe as possible until the immediate threat no longer exists.

Non-Emergency Lockdowns

A non-emergency lockdown is a situation where there is a potential danger in the area of a school, but no immediate threat. Examples may include an incident taking place in the community, for which we do not wish children to see and/or be near. a fluid public safety situation can change very quickly. Classes and daily instruction continue as normal during a non-emergency lockdown.

Emotional Safety

In addition to our efforts aimed at ensuring the physical safety of students, our school district also places an emphasis on ensuring the emotional safety of our students and staff as well. We have a strong network of partners in this effort, that include the district's student services team, who coordinates building level character building efforts in positive behaviors, interventions, and supports. The School District of Milton is also an active partner in the Milton Youth Coalition, which is an organization who works with City leaders and students in our on-going effort to prevent bullying in our schools and throughout our community.

Communication During A Crisis:

We have several different ways we communicate with parents during a crisis. Please know that each critical incident is unique to itself and that those situations are often very fluid. We strive to communicate timely, meaningful, accurate information to our families as quickly as possible, without causing unnecessary alarm. To do so, we utilize the following communication methods:

1) Automatic Phone Call: Often referred to as "Robo Call", this is a phone call from an administrator that generally alerts families to a school closing, late start, early release, or a significant modification to the school day due to an unforeseen situation.

2) Emergency Text Alerts: We use the text alert system with the same guidelines as the "Robo Call", in that school is being canceled, delayed, released early, or a significant change in the daily schedule is taking place that must be communicated immediately. Am emergency evacuation of students to a different building may also cause us to utilize this method of communication with our families if a call to action or a response from them regarding students is deemed necessary. You can sign up for the program by scrolling down on this page and learning how to enroll.

3) Website Announcement: Our website at www.milton.k12.wi.us will display a red banner announcement across the top of the page if there is a school closing or being released early or students are being held late.

4) Local Media Outlets: When appropriate, we notify local media outlets of a school closing or early release. This is generally reserved for weather related closings (see school closings page under Communications), or may be used if there is an emergency evacuation and parents are asked to pick students up at an alternate location.

5) Social Media: We use Facebook and Twitter as our two primary mechanisms of social media to communicate out information. These are among our last to be used in critical incidents in terms of their sequence, due to us prioritizing family and staff communication first.

6) Skyward Family Access Email: This method is a commonly used method of communication used our district office and building principals to share information about situations that happened at school. This communication is designed to brief parents about a situation that while serious, did not rise to the level of requiring immediate notification and/or a "call to action" from parents or guardians, and instead serves as the sharing of important information about a situation that happened during the school day, what we did, (or are doing), and why.

If at any time you have any questions or concerns about school safety or our crisis communications plan, please feel free to call Communications Supervisor Jerry Schuetz at 608-868-9222 or email him at schuetzj@milton.k12.wi.us.

Emergency Text Alert System

How do I get on the texting list? Families that would like to sign up for the School District of Milton emergency text notification system may do so by following these steps. Once you update your phone number in Skyward Family Access you will receive an invitation text message within 24 hours*

Log into Skyward Family Access

Change your SECOND phone number listed to equal the phone number you would like to receive text at. Be sure to SAVE the changes you made.

Signing Up For Emergency Text Alerts Once Your Phone Number Is Correct in Skyward

My phone number is correct, but I cannot find the text message inviting me to participate. If you are confident you have your phone number set correctly in Skyward, you may self-enroll by texting the word “YES” to 68453

I would like to discontinue receiving text messages from the School District of Milton. Families are welcome to stop text messages at any time by texting the word “STOP” to 68453